Chelsea need to sell players this summer. With £600million spent on incoming transfers and little heading in the other direction, it is no secret that the Blues need to trim their numbers.
Players had to be left out of the club's Champions League squad and it was difficult to even make matchday squads with the club recognising more than 30 senior players after the January transfer window. With the likes of Ethan Ampadu, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Malo Gusto set to return from loan with a plethora of other players, sales will be necessary.
Mauricio Pochettino tends to work with smaller groups, so there will be pressure to accommodate him and also hope to balance the books somewhat. It has been well-documented that the prospect of homegrown player sales could prove more useful in this regard.
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Nevertheless, with Mason Mount's contract deemed a priority barely 12 months ago, few would have predicted the 24-year-old would be at the centre of a summer transfer saga. Personal terms are yet to be agreed for Mount to move to Manchester United but with interest from the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool too, his trajectory certainly seems to be away from Stamford Bridge.
The midfielder has just a single year on his contract and still highlights that most teams capable of buying Chelsea's talent reside in the Premier League. It is little wonder that Manchester City are an early contender for Mateo Kovacic.
There is perhaps an acceptance that a sale is better for Chelsea than allowing Mount to leave for free in 12 months' time. The club did offer the midfielder a salary increase and a year extension that was rejected after an agreement in place ahead of the World Cup was taken off the table. Given that Mount has not received an improved contract since the summer of 2019, it is certainly understandable to suggest he has been undervalued having been Chelsea's player of the year twice in that period.
Of course, 2022/23 has not seen Mount at his very best and perhaps that partially leaves him in a different situation to someone like Harry Kane. The Spurs forward is also of interest to Manchester United and in the final year of his contract but there is no prospect of Spurs making a sale.
Kane's 30 Premier League goals can be considered responsible for almost half of Tottenham's points tally, and the prospect of how much worse the Lilywhites would be without the academy product having already not qualified for Europe is stark. Even with Mount, it is hard to envisage Chelsea having a worse season than they did in 2022/23, and the Blues' lack of a consistent goalscorer is perhaps a hint to where Tottenham could head.
However, football.london's understanding is that the feeling within the club is that Kane is less likely to leave this summer, and there is not the same tension as when Manchester City held their interest in 2021. Tottenham maintain they have no intention of selling him, maybe Daniel Levy can not afford to sell him with no manager or director of football currently in place.
There is a degree of tension given the state of Mount's negotiations however, and while he has been a pivotal player, it comes at a time when Chelsea need a player of their books. His departure would not doubt sour the view of the owners and players in the eyes of fans, but both parties will see their future improving next term regardless of the outcome.
Chelsea may not feel compelled to belligerently keep Mount, even if the prospect of his departure is of their own making, and perhaps are unable to, even with Mauricio Pochettino's preference to keep the star.
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